Combined radio and phonograph apparatus



March 8, 1927. F G MAYER COMBINED RADIO AND PHONOGRAPH APPARATUS Filed June 24 1924 Patented Mai-.8, 1927. A

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRED G. MAYER, OF RICHMOND, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR 'IO STARR PIANO COMPANY, 01' RICHMOND, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

COMBINED RADIO AND PHONOGRAPH APPARATUS.

Application filed June 24, 1924. Serial No. 721,876.

The invention subject of my present application for Letters Patent. is an improvement in apparatus in which are combined a radio device and a phonograph in such manner that either may be used in conjunction with the same amplifying means or horn, without material change 1n any part of the instrument.

To this end I have designed a cabinet comprising two main compartments in one of which the devices comprising the radio set are placed, while the other contains an amplifying horn connected with the tone arm of a phonograph by the usual tube, from which leads a branch tube to the loud speaker of the radio. The swinging tone arm and sound box of the phonograph are placed above the motor board in the usual way. The tube connected to the loud speaker of the radio also extends up through the said motor board in the phonograph compartment, but this is only a preferred arrangement, as the loud speaker may be located beneath this board i f so desired.

The essential and distinguishing feature of this device resides in the duplex feature of the horn in the phonograph compartment, in which, it will be observed that the radio tube is closed at its end by the loud speaker, while the phonograph tube is simultaneously closed by the sound box, so that in each tube there is a confined body of air which constitutes a quiescent or dead column. When, therefore, one instrument is used this dead column of the other is vibrated simultaneously and sympathetically with and as a part of the vibrations in the active passage, with the result that the sounds are greatly amplified. This I believe to be a new structural feature ininstruments of this general character.

My improvement is illustrated in detail in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a View in elevation and part section of the cabinet and the complete device.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view in elevation illustrative of the duplex feature of the horn.

The cabinet 1 is of any proper and desired design, and of dimensions suitable for containing the two instruments. The radio set, indicated by 2, is contained in the lefthand compartment,- and the phonograph mechanism and the duplex horn is placed in ignates the usual motor board upon which is located the swmging tone arm 4, and the sound box 5 of the phonograph. The details of this mechanism are not shown more fully as they are common and well known in the art.

With the tone arm 4 is connected the throat 6 of the amplifying horn 7, which extends, for this purpose, up through the motor board 3, and in these and other respects the instrument differs as a whole in no material respect from the well known forms of phonograph heretofore in use.

To the throat or tube 6, however, is connected a tube 8, preferably though not nec essarily extending upward and through'the motor board, and to the end of which is attached any suitable form of loud speaker 9, connected by the wires 10 with the radio apparatus. The connecting tube 8 should be of the same internal capacity or dimensions as the tone arm in order to produce the best results. As above intimated, the exact location of the loud speaker is not of the essence of the invention, provided it be a permanent part of the construction or apparatus as a whole.

When so desired the phonograph is operated in the usual and well known manner. The sounds conducted through the tone arm nto the amplifying horn, set the air there in in vibration, and such vibrations acting on the dead column of confined air in the radio tube, set that also in vibration, with the known result that the sounds emitted from the horn are thereby amplified.

When the radio is connected up and the use of the phonograph discontinued, the sounds produced by the loud speaker 9 are carried through the tube 8 and the vibrat1ons thus transmitted to the air in the horn excite simultaneous vibration in the dead column of air in the throat 6 and the horn 7, with the-result that the sounds emitted by the horn 7 are amplified.

no change and no adjustment of any part of the apparatus are necessary for operating either the radio or the phonograph and this makes the device peculiarly useful in households where the skill.required to shift instruments and make new connections and adjustments is not always to be found.

Having now described my invention what I claim is:

the right hand compartment in which?) des- 1. In a combined radio and phonograph apparatus, the combination of an amplifying horn, a radio loud speaker unit, a phonograph sound box, a tone arm permanently connecting said sound box with said amplifying horn, a tube permanently connecting said loud speaker unit with said amplifying horn and having substantially the same internalcapacity as said tone arm whereby sympathetic vibrations are set up in the confined column of air in either said tone arm or said tube depending upon whether the vibrations originate in the loud speaker unit or in the sound box.

2. In a combined radio and phonograph apparatus, the combination of an amplifying horn, a radio loud s aker unit, a phonograph sound box, two ranches connected to said amplifying horn, each having substantially equivalent acoustic properties and both being adapted to remain in communication with said amplifying horn when either said loud speaker unit or said sound box is functioning, said loud speaker unit serving to close the end of one of said branches and said phonograph sound box serving to close the end of the other of said branches whereby when either the loud speaker unit or the phonograph sound box originates sound vibrations in its associated signature.

FRED G. MAYER. 

